The present invention relates to a storage case having a soft intraocular lens-folding function, which houses and stores a soft intraocular lens used in cataract operations and the like, and also has a function of folding the soft intraocular lens on the occasion of a surgical operation.
For example, in a cataract operation, the aim is to restore sight by a surgical procedure, which inserts into the eye an intraocular lens, which is an artificial lens, in place of a natural lens that has become opaque due to a cataract.
This intraocular lens has a circular optical lens portion, and arm-shaped supporting portions extended in an arc form to an outside from a lens edge portion to stabilize this lens portion inside the eye.
As this intraocular lens, there has been provided in recent years a soft intraocular lens of which optical lens portion can be deformed by being folded in two using silicon resin, acrylic resin, hydrogel and other such materials.
This soft intraocular lens can be inserted into the eye of a patient with the lens portion being in a folded state, and therefore it has numerous clinical advantages such as making the size of the incision smaller at the time of surgery and faster recovery after surgery.
When attaching this soft intraocular lens, the optical lens portion must be folded beforehand prior to inserting the soft intraocular lens into the eye.
As methods for carrying out this folding operation, in the past there was a method, which makes use of a special forceps-shaped tool called an extractor, and a method, which makes use of a special jig called an injector.
As an example of the method that uses an extractor, the method of using two extractors will be explained. Firstly, a first extractor is held in the right hand, then the end or the support portion of the lens portion is clamped, and the lens is taken out of the lens case. Next, the center portion of the lens portion is clamped with a second extractor held in the left hand, and the lens portion is folded using the first extractor held in the right hand. Before the lens portion is completely folded, the second extractor with which the center portion of the lens portion is clamped is removed. The lens portion is completely folded with the first extractor and the lens is inserted into the eye.
In the method that uses an injector, after setting an intraocular lens inside the injector, the tip of that injector is inserted into the insertion part of the eye, the extrusion aperture of the injector is operated, and the lens is inserted into the eye from the tip of the injector (publication of Japanese Patent application No. 4-212350, for example).
Furthermore, as the other methods, there has been proposed a method, which makes use of the intraocular lens folder disclosed in Published Japanese translation of PCT international publication for patent application No. 9-501574. This intraocular lens folder is constituted such that two pairs of opposing jaws are formed respectively in a pair of pliers-shaped lever handles, and the edge of a lens is placed in and held by four supporting portions formed by these 2 pairs of jaws, and in addition, by squeezing these lever handles, the gap of the pair of jaws of one side is made narrower, while at the same time, the gap of the pair of jaws of the other side is made wider.
If this tool is used, when the lens portion being held by the two pairs of jaws is folded by being put between the pair of jaws of the one side, it is possible to make the pair of jaws of the other side open and recede so as not to impede the folding thereof, and therefore, folding can be performed with a lens being held as-is.
However, the inventors have clearly shown that the above-described arts have the following problems.
That is, in the method in which two extractors are used as mentioned firstly, a problem is that operation is complicated, a problem is that it is difficult to accurately hold the center portion of a lens, and a problem is that there is the danger of dropping a lens when switching an extractor from one hand to the other and when re-holding the lens. Another problem is that since the center portion of a lens is clamped and held by an extractor, the center portion of the lens that is the most important from the standpoint of optics is apt to be damaged by the extractor.
The secondarily-mentioned method in which an injector is used appears at a glance to be simple and reliable, but actually, if an intraocular lens is not set inside an injector precisely from the standpoint of the injector mechanism, there is the danger of the intraocular lens getting stuck inside the injector, and either not being able to be injected, or not being injected into the proper position. With this method, the problem is that it was not always easy to set an intraocular lens precisely inside an injector.
In the thirdly-mentioned method in which a lens folder is used, a problem is that the structure is complex and it is apt to become very costly since two different linkage operations, i.e. narrowing the gap of one side of the two pairs of jaws, while at the same time widening the gap of the other side must be carried out. In addition, a problem is that, when folding a lens portion by manually operating the lever handle, if there is a mistake in the degree of force used in operating this handle, there is apt to be damage done to the lens portion by the application of unreasonable force to the lens portion. Furthermore, the folding of a lens portion must be carried out by holding the edge portion of the lens in the proper position over the four supporting portions formed by the two pairs of jaws, but a problem is that this operation is also unexpectedly troublesome, and considerable concentration is required to perform this properly. This is because, if the lens portion holding position is inaccurate, not only is it not possible to fold the lens portion accurately, there is also the danger that the lens will slip off during folding.
The above-described problems are serious problems under the situation of an ophthalmologic surgery.
This is because pressure is always put on the operators under the ophthalmologic surgery to carry out extremely accurate operations in minimal time. Consequently, it is necessary for the operators to carry out the operations other than the surgical operations for patients in minimal time and under low load.
Further, for the purpose of folding a lens, using a plurality of instruments and requiring a plurality of stages of operation have the possibility of giving an unfavorable influence in keeping a good sanitary condition of lens and in preventing lens from being damaged.
That is, the larger the number of instruments becomes and the more complicated the shape becomes, the more difficult the sterilization operation becomes, and each time a lens is moved from one instrument to another, the possibility of damaging the lens increases
Consequently, an object of the present invention is to provide a storage case having a soft intraocular lens folding function, which has a constitution offering superb reliability and manufacturability, which can aseptically store an intraocular lens produced in a production line without damaging it until the time of a surgery, and which enables an operator to perform an operation of clamping the stored lens with an extractor easily and reliably.
A first invention to solve the above-described problems is a storage case having a soft intraocular lens folding function characterized in that the first invention comprises a base part, a movable part and a lid part,
the aforesaid base part comprises a base part side joining portion which is slidably joined to the aforesaid movable part, a base part side holding portion which supports a soft intraocular lens, a base part side lens pressing portion which presses the soft intraocular lens, and a base part side fitting portion which is attachably and detachably fitted into the aforesaid lid part,
the aforesaid movable part comprises a movable part side joining portion which is slidably joined to the aforesaid base part, a lever portion, a movable part side holding portion which supports the soft intraocular lens, and a movable part side lens pressing portion which presses the soft intraocular lens,
the aforesaid lid part comprises a lid part side fitting portion which is attachably and detachably fitted into the aforesaid base part,
the aforesaid lid part protects the soft intraocular lens held by the base part side holding portion and the movable part side holding portion and the aforesaid movable part by being fitted into the aforesaid base part,
when the aforesaid lid part is detached from the aforesaid base part and the lever portion is pressed, the soft intraocular lens held by the base part side holding portion and the movable part side holding portion is pressed by the base part side lens pressing portion and the movable part side lens pressing portion, and is appropriately folded.
As a result of adopting the above-described constitution, by pressing the aforesaid lever portion and folding the lens, a load exerted when the lens is picked is reduced, and by integrating the functions of storing and folding the lens, an operation of moving the lens from the storage case to a folding device is made unnecessary, thus reducing the possibility of damaging the lens when the lens is moved.
A second invention is a storage case having a soft intraocular lens folding function characterized in that the second invention comprises a base part, a movable part and a lid part,
the aforesaid base part comprises a base part side joining portion which is slidably joined to the aforesaid movable part, a base part side holding portion which supports a soft intraocular lens, a base part side lens pressing portion which presses the soft intraocular lens, and a base part side fitting portion which is attachably and detachably fitted into the aforesaid lid part,
the aforesaid movable part comprises a movable part side joining portion which is slidably joined to the aforesaid base part, a lever portion, a spring portion which causes a proper elastic repulsive force between the lever portion and the aforesaid base part when the lever portion is pressed, a movable part side holding portion which supports the soft intraocular lens, and a movable part side lens pressing portion which presses the soft intraocular lens,
the aforesaid lid part comprises a lid part side fitting portion which is attachably fitted into the aforesaid base part,
the aforesaid lid part protects the soft intraocular lens held by the base part side holding portion and the movable part side holding portion and the aforesaid movable part by being fitted into the aforesaid base part,
when the aforesaid lid part is detached from the aforesaid base part and the lever portion is pressed, the soft intraocular lens held by the base part side holding portion and the movable part side holding portion is pressed by the base part side lens pressing portion and the movable part side lens pressing portion, and is appropriately folded.
As a result of adopting the above-described constitution, when the lens starts to be folded by pressing the aforesaid lever portion, a suitable elastic repulsive force occurs due to the effect of the aforesaid spring portion between the aforesaid lever portion and the aforesaid base part, whereby the lens can be folded at a desired speed while the feeling of it is made certain, thus reducing a load exerted when the lens is picked, and by integrating the functions of storing and folding the lens, an operation of moving the lens from the storage case to the folding device is made unnecessary, thus eliminating the possibility of damaging the lens when the lens is moved.
A third invention is the storage case having the soft intraocular lens folding function according to the first or the second invention, characterized in that when the lever portion is pressed, a moving distance of the lever portion and a moving distance of the movable part side lens pressing portion are equal.
As a result of adopting the constitution in which the moving distance of the aforesaid lever portion and the moving distance of the aforesaid movable part side lens pressing portion are equal, the movement of the movable part side lens pressing portion and the movement of the pressing operation can be always grasped as equivalent intuitively and directly when the lever portion is pressed, and therefore the concentration of consciousness on this portion can be greatly reduced.
A fourth invention is the storage case having the soft intraocular lens folding function according to any one of the first to third invention, characterized in that the aforesaid base part and the aforesaid movable part have soft intraocular lens supporting pins,
when the lever portion is not pressed, the soft intraocular lens supporting pins support the soft intraocular lens,
when the lever portion is pressed, the base part side soft intraocular lens supporting pin is stored in the movable part side lens pressing portion and the movable part side soft intraocular lens supporting pin is stored in the base part side lens pressing portion.
As a result of adopting this constitution, both the lens supporting pins of the base part and the movable part are stored in the opposing lens pressing portions, and they do not hinder the movement of the extractor, and therefore the lens can be picked with ease and reliability.
A fifth invention is the storage case having the soft intraocular lens folding function according to any one of the first to fourth invention, characterized in that in the base part side lens pressing portion and the movable part side lens pressing portion, portions which hold the soft intraocular lens are overhung relative to planes formed by the base part side holing portion and the movable part side holding portion.
As a result of adopting this constitution, when the lever portion is pressed, the aforesaid soft intraocular lens is caught by the overhang surface of the base part side lens pressing portion and the overhand surface of the movable part side lens pressing portion, and is folded upward in a convex shape in a stable state.
A sixth invention is the storage case having the soft intraocular lens folding function according to any one of the first to fifth invention, characterized in that in the base part side lens pressing portion and the movable part side lens pressing portion, extractor guides are provided at surfaces with which an extractor is in contact when the folded soft intraocular lens is picked with the extractor.
As a result of adopting this constitution, an irregular movement of the tip end of the extractor, which is caused by a slight trembling of a hand and the like when the lens is picked, is eliminated, and therefore the folded soft intraocular lens can be picked with accuracy and ease.
A seventh invention is the storage case having the soft intraocular lens folding function according to any one of the first to the sixth invention, characterized in that the aforesaid base part and the aforesaid lid part are provided with light through-hole which is used for performing inspection and/or measurement of the soft intraocular lens by emitting light to the soft intraocular lens from an outside of the aforesaid storage case in a state in which the aforesaid lid part protects the soft intraocular lens and the aforesaid movable part by being fitted into the aforesaid base part.
As a result of adopting this constitution, it is made possible to confirm the optical characteristics of the lens stored in the storage case without detaching the lid part.
A eighth invention is the storage case having the soft intraocular lens folding function according to any one of the first to seventh invention, characterized in that the eight invention further comprises a control part which controls turning of the soft intraocular lens.
As a result of adopting this constitution, the turning of the aforesaid soft intraocular lens due to, for example, vibrations, impacts from outside and the like is controlled, and therefore the aforesaid soft intraocular lens is folded at a preferable position.
A ninth invention is the storage case having the soft intraocular lens folding function according to the eighth invention, characterized in that the aforesaid control part comprises columnar projections provided at the aforesaid base part and controls movement of arm-shaped supporting portions provided at the soft intraocular lens.
As a result of adopting this constitution, the turning of the aforesaid soft intraocular lens can be controlled without touching the optical surface of the aforesaid soft intraocular lens.